About this project
Walk into any reasonably sized bookstore in China and you will find shelves full of the experience of Chinese medicine doctors. Case studies are the bones and blood of furthering one’s skill as a doctor. We all gain a foundation, a skeletal structure from our textbooks and first years in medical school. But it is the actual application, the use and practice of medicine that allows us to distill meaning from our experience.
Here in the West we have plenty of books that teach us how-to, books that are rich in theory and heavy with fundamentals; we all need a foundation from which to work. But to really understand how medicine unfolds in the clinic, how to engage the conversation between patient and practitioner, connect the dots between symptom and treatment, and navigate between knowing and discovering, it is within the case study literature where we really see medicine come alive.
Chinese medicine is both vast and deep. This book seeks to bring into focus one aspect: the use of the classic formulas of the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui Yao Lue in modern practice.
Why the focus on classic formulas?
There is not just one way to read the Shang Han Lun; its 398 lines have multiple interpretations and there is a plethora of ways to apply its methods. Formulas that were used 1,800 years ago for a single purpose now have multiple applications in modern life. Just as a single substitution or changing the amount of one herb can profoundly change the function of a formula, so too does clinical perspective have a deep impact on how prescriptions are chosen and modified.
Through the window of case studies, this book seeks to allow the reader a glimpse into the contributor’s clinical reasoning, to throw light on how they gather information and distill its meaning, and to share their perspective on how the lines of the Shang Han Lun and Jin Gui can be applied to understanding the use of these ancient formulas in the modern clinic.
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Who will be contributing?
This is not just a look at how the jing fang are used in the West. Invitations to contribute will be distributed to China, Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and other countries where there are stories of innovative use of the classic formulas.
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The goal is to improve our clinical results
We are not looking to prove the classic formulas are effective, or that Chinese medicine is useful. We already know that from our clinical work. This book, which unfolds the practice of medicine via case study, gives us a glimpse into the mind and clinical reasoning of the seasoned practitioner. It will help us to understand how to sort out what is important, as it maps out a method of inquiry and intervention. The classics have given us a common set of prescriptions, but the ways in which they are clinically applied in modern practice are as unique and varied as the practitioners themselves.
This is an invitation to contribute to a work that will give the reader a diamond-faceted look at the clinical application of the classic formulas, an opportunity to contribute a more multi-dimensional view of those formulas in modern clinical use. As well, it is an opportunity to add to the discussion that has been going on for 1800 years now about how to help our patients with these often simple, but effective formulas.
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Would you like to join us?
If you would like to submit a case study for review and inclusion, please write and let us know of your interest. You will be sent a submission package that details format, writer’s guidelines, timetables and other pertinent information.